Drew Compares His Troubles To Christ's

MINNEOLA — A sometimes tearful Mayor Hilory Drew likened his arrest last week to the suffering of Jesus Christ as he spoke about it publicly for the first time Thursday.

''I feel like Jesus felt,'' Drew said in his first public comment on his arrest last week. ''The only difference is that I didn't have nails on my hands and my feet and a cross.''

Drew last year allegedly compared himself to Buford Pusser, who wielded a big stick in the movie Walking Tall. Earlier this year, a council member said Drew reminded him of Barney Fife, the bumbling cop on The Andy Griffith Show.

Drew, 53, was charged last week with improper exhibition of a firearm, a first-degree misdemeanor. The arrest warrant issued by the State Attorney's Office charged Drew with threatening a city employee with a .45-caliber handgun and a .25-caliber handgun on Nov. 21 and pointing the weapons. He is free on $500 bond.

''The objective of the situation is to get me,'' said Drew, who compared his trip to jail to what Jesus faced before he was crucified. ''After Judas pointed Jesus out, they drug him through the streets. They've drug me through the streets except they drug me through 30-something reporters.''

On Thursday, he also likened his situation to that of Oliver North, who was involved in the Iran-Contra scam, saying that he has listened to tapes of the former colonel for inspiration.

Drew, elected in 1991, said he has been the savior of Minneola and doesn't understand why some residents would conspire against him.

''You are fortunate that I'm sitting here in this seat,'' Drew said to about 25 residents during a special Minneola City Council meeting. ''We have peace and tranquility for the first time in years in Minneola.''

The special meeting was called by council members after Drew demoted Police Chief Jane Newcombe this week, blaming her for his legal troubles. Drew had demoted Newcombe after she filed a complaint about phone calls the mayor made to her home - information that has become part of a continuing State Attorney's Office investigation into his activities.

''Due to gross insubordination and the making of false, vicious, and or malicious statements concerning me in my capacity as mayor, I have no other recourse than to demote Chief Janie P. Newcombe,'' Drew said in a personnel file memo.

With no sign of the sidearm he usually carries, Drew exchanged verbal salvos throughout Thursday's 90-minute meeting with other council members and with audience members, including former Mayor May Griffith and Drew critic Ed Bond.

After Bond asked Drew to quit interrupting speakers, the mayor threatened to remove the resident from the council chambers.

''Who's going to do it?'' Bond retorted. ''You and your two pistols?''

At one point, council members considered voting on a proposal to silence Drew because they said he was slowing up the meeting with his interruptions.

''What are you going to do, put me in jail again?'' Drew asked, as state attorney's and Lake sheriff's officials watched from the back of the room.

''You're totally out of control,'' Vice Mayor Stephen Parrish said to Drew. ''The mayor is purposely trying to disrupt this meeting.''

Finally, Drew agreed not to interrupt other council members if he could have time to talk about his tribulations at the end of the meeting.

And talk he did.

Drew said he was praying for his critics but he also gave them advice as he cautioned them that God is on his side.

''I ask you to go down on your knees and pray for what you've done,'' Drew said. ''I know one thing. I have the strongest power on my side.''

Drew told audience members it would be easy to resign because the mayor's job is a ''burden on my shoulders that I don't want,'' but there's something stopping him: ''I don't run from a fight. . . . If you back off and leave me alone, I'll get out.''

Gov. Lawton Chiles is reviewing whether to suspend Drew, but a spokesman for his office said Thursday that no decision had been made. State law provides that the governor can suspend an elected official if he or she has been charged with a felony, or a misdemeanor related to the duties of office.